March 16, 2011

Just Another Obsession…

People collect stamps, coins, and items of artistic importance. I collect movie ticket stubs. I was waiting for a long time to share this on this blog. A few days ago, the 100th stub entered my album (actually a card holder). Thought, this news must be celebrated in this space.

The collection contains remnants of various movies, good and bad, I have watched over a few years, and across cities like Pune, Noida, and Lucknow, but mainly Mumbai. Some are as old as the first-day-first-show of ‘Rang De Basanti’. But most of them date back to only a couple of years. 33 of them are first-day-first-shows. Also, I have watched as many as 36 of these movies alone. The festival passes of French classics ‘Pieerot le fou’, ‘Cleo de 5 a 7’ and ‘Jules et Jim’, and the ticket stub of ‘DDLJ’ at Maratha Mandir on my brother’s birthday are special. Also, there are four premiere/preview passes, including ‘Udaan’. But my proudest possession is ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly’. It was the time when Hindi films were not released due to a conflict between producers-distributors-exhibitors. This Sergio Leone film, one of my favourites, was being screened at Sterling. The moment I read about it in the newspaper, I was on my way to the theatre. It was the most urgent decision I have ever taken to go for a movie. Most of the crowd in the theatre was older people, who must have cherished this movie way back in the 60s and 70s. My brother and I were the youngest, and the only ones to clap and whistle and scream as the movie unfolded on the big screen. This little stub in my album will always remind me of the joy I felt that day. Many more to come, hopefully.

8 comments:

SirRecently I got an opportunity to revise The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly after so many years since college. The movie is a classic and watching it is like cherishing those good times when everything was innocent and honest. Watching classics is like visiting the streets of your ancestral home after a long long time. Its a moment of nostalgia and also a moment of celebration. And such moments must be lived and cherished...

you and your brother have shared some great moments together with cinema. and why not... you guys have similar tastes and choices. but of all the others... this one 'taste' is here to stay for long and ever... love for 'cinema'..!!great going!

mee too :) though not as organised and numbered as yours, mine usually end up in a single envelope, or in a unified dump-box (not meant in an offensive way; that box contains a lot of important papers :)and for the sake of memories of the movie and the movie goers (with me) on the back of the strip, i jot down the names of all those who came along... that's why i sometimes get irritated when these 'fax papers' used in tickets here fade with time..

P.S. I started the 'Must Watch' recommendations in September 2010. Before that I had watched several movies that must feature in this list. But in order to save myself from the useless and predictable exercise of recommending all great movies, I decided to follow a simple eligibility criterion: The movies recommended here would be among those I watched or re-watched since September 2010. So please do not be surprised if 'Cinema Paradiso' or 'Apocalypse Now' (which are, in my opinion, definite Must Watch) do not feature in here. They will find a place in the list the day I re-watch them.